


On the Bus to Sleepytown

by chooken



Category: Westlife
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Cute, Fluff, Kinicky, Loneliness, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Tour Bus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 01:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2794058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chooken/pseuds/chooken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kian tells Nicky a bedtime story while they're separated during the 2006 radio tour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Bus to Sleepytown

Nicky sighed, staring at the underneath of the bunk above him, as though it could offer any sympathy. He didn’t want to be here, and certainly not alone like this. Oh, of course Shane was there, but it wasn’t exactly the same, was it? They weren’t supposed to be apart. They hadn’t been apart in eight years, for god’s sakes! And it stung like a bitch.

He turned over, pummelling his pillow then planting his face in it, feeling bored and lonely. Shane had gone to sleep over an hour ago and, whilst he was a poor substitute for Kian, he had nevertheless kept Nicky occupied, stopped him thinking of how miserable it was possible for one human being to feel.

He wanted Kian. He just wanted Kian.

As if on cue, his phone decided on that exact moment to start ringing. Nicky reached for the small pocket hanging from his bunk and tugged it out, flipping it open and accepting the call.

“Hiya.” Kian said.

“Hiya.” Nicky replied. “Where are you?”

“Erm… the last sign said ‘Bedlington’. No idea where that is.”

“In England?”

“Well yeah.” Kian laughed softly. “Where are you?”

“Somewhere called ‘Tewkesbury’. Nicky said, glancing out the window at the dark fields. “Last time I checked, anyway. How’s ‘middle of nowhere’ sound to you?”

“Wonderful, assuming we’re in the same ‘middle of nowhere’.”

“Which we’re not.”

“No.” Kian sighed softly, and Nicky curled himself into a tighter ball, trying to imagine Kian curled up with him. “How was today, then?”

“Okay.” Nicky nodded even though he knew Kian couldn’t see him. It made the distance between them seem a little bit less. But not nearly bearable. “We said the usual things. But are we doing a Greatest Hits 2 next and I’ve not heard of it?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” Kian replied hesitantly. “Why?”

“Shane mentioned it on the radio. Oh well, damage control.”

Kian laughed. “Punch him for me. That’s the last rumour we need to be spreading.”

“I’ll say.” Nicky rolled his eyes, loving the sound of Kian’s laughter. Kian felt so far away, and the time they’d been apart felt stretched to days and days, even though they’d only said goodbye last night. “How was yours?”

“Okay. Mark’s still wearing that bloody ugly tie-thing. I slagged him a lot. It was fun.”

“Still standing by the old ‘Kevin picked it so it’s beautiful’ line?”

“You bet.” Kian snorted. “He’s upstairs on the phone, talking to Mr Wonderful. They’ve started using pet names.”

“Aw… my ickle Shmoopykins. Don’t you just hate when they get all couply?”

“It’s not so bad, Cuddlebear.” Kian drawled. “It’s rather cute. But it makes me miss you more.”

“Why couldn’t we just be together?” Nicky pouted, fully aware that he was sulking. “You and me, and we could’ve stuck Mark and Shane with each other.”

“Probably because we’d only end up groping the whole time.” Kian joked, but Nicky knew it was probably the truth. “I don’t know. It’s more commercial or something. You and Shane work well together, anyway.”

“You and me work well together.” Nicky protested.

“Well maybe they want to spread you and me out a bit, seeing as we’re the two best looking ones. We’re carrying the uglies, you know.”

“It’s on radio. Doesn’t matter what we look like.”

“The two sexiest voices, then.” Nicky could almost hear Kian’s smile. He curled into a tighter ball, his knees against his chest. If he closed his eyes, the length of his own thighs felt like Kian’s back pressed against him. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

“Well you do have a very sexy voice.” Nicky breathed, trying to make himself sound sultry and suggestive. Kian made a happy sort of sighing noise.

“Where’s Shane?”

“Asleep.” Nicky assured him, already reaching into his boxers for the hardening length that was beginning to tent the satin. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” Kian said flippantly. Nicky pouted.

“You don’t want to touch me, then?”

“Now that I do want to do.” Kian breathed, making Nicky shiver as that suggestive, sexy tone met his ear. He could almost feel Kian’s breath against his neck, and rubbed it gently with his fingers, imagining soft lips.

“I miss you.” Nicky whispered.

“I miss you more.” Kian murmured back.

“No, I miss you more.”

“No, I miss you m… look, we are NOT turning into Mark and Kevin.” Kian snarled playfully, making Nicky laugh.

“Good god no. Bloody Marvin. I couldn’t think of anything worse.” Nicky made a retching noise into the phone, and smiled when he heard Kian’s laughter. “Talk to me.” He sighed, tiring of cuddling himself and pulling his pillow to his chest instead. It wasn’t nearly as good as Kian, but it felt a little better.

“About what?”

“Dunno. Just talk crap like you usually do.”

“I don’t talk crap. If anyone talks crap, it’s you! I’m very eloquent.”

“Ooh, big words.” Nicky teased. There was a gentle silence, and he settled into his pillow a bit more, enjoying the sound of Kian breathing on the other end of the line. “Talk to me.”

“Talk to you? Okay…” Kian trailed off, apparently deep in thought. “Well, it was pretty boring today. You know, the usual. I got so sick of hearing myself talk.”

“Did you think of me?” Nicky asked, closing his eyes and letting Kian’s voice wash over him, listening to the sound more than the words, letting it soothe him.

“Of course I did. Except for when I didn’t.”

“Good enough, I suppose.” Nicky chuckled. “When didn’t you think of me?”

“When I was too busy trying to chase Mark up and get him into the radio station. How can someone manage to get lost on a bus?”

Nicky laughed loudly, then clamped a hand over his mouth when he heard Shane stirring in the other bed. “Shh…” He told himself.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“Why? Do I not interest you, Nicky?”

“I invest great interest in you, Kian.” Nicky teased. Kian laughed, that fond little chuckle that Nicky adored so much, that made him feel all warm inside. “Keep talking to me.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say! It’s not been the most exciting of days, you know. It’s not like I’ve got a bloody book of bedtime stories handy.”

“Ooh, yes! Tell me a bedtime story!”

“I just said I don’t…” Kian sighed, the amusement in his voice obvious. “You’re bloody impossible sometimes, you know that?”

“But you love me.” Nicky replied confidently.

“I do, and you’re lucky. Otherwise I’d follow through on kicking your head in.”

“You can’t. You’re not here.” Nicky retorted, then pressed his face into the pillow to hide his sadness, even though Kian couldn’t actually see him. Which just made it worse. “I want you here.” Silence settled again. Nicky held his pillow as tightly as he could.

“Once upon a time,” Kian said, “there was a beautiful queen called Nicky.”

“Fuck you!” Nicky laughed.

“You are, and you know it. You’re a bloody diva when you get wound up.” Kian sniggered. “Anyway, this beautiful queen had her very own king, and they had all sorts of adventures together, and travelled to far-off lands.”

Nicky smiled affectionately. “I like this story.”

“Thought you might. Now, the king and the queen, they loved each other very very much, and didn’t like to be parted for a single moment, because every moment they were apart hurt like a… a dragon stomping on them.”

Nicky covered his mouth to muffle the loud giggle that burst from his throat at the image of he and Kian in crowns, and him in a gown, with a huge purple dragon jumping up and down on top of them. “I don’t think much of your story-telling ability.”

“You wanted a story, you’re getting one.” Kian retorted. “But one day, you see, there was a big campaign going on in the kingdom. So big, in fact, that the king and queen had to split up to make sure all the work got done.”

“Did a dragon stomp on them, then?”

“It felt like it. To the king, anyway. But it had to be done. So the queen and the king each chose a knight to take with them. The queen went west, and the king went north. They agreed that in two days they would meet in London, when the work was all done, and it would seem that the time they’d spent apart…”

“…with the dragon stomping on them…”

Kian ignored him. “…would seem like just a bad dream. And more than that, it proved to the king just how much he loved his queen, and that he never wanted to be parted from him again.”

“Your queen’s a cross-dresser, is she?”

“Not unless he’s hiding something from me.” Kian snorted. “Do you pop a bra and heels on when I’m down at the shops or something?”

“Oh yeah, all the time.” Nicky deadpanned. “You should see the stockings I nicked from me mam last time I was over there.”

“I’m sure you look gorgeous in them.” Kian assured him with a laugh.

“Kian?”

“Nicky?”

“You know, the queen never wants to be apart from the king ever again, either. He misses him so much that the dragon might as well be... uh… wearing biker boots.”

“Biker boots?” Kian laughed loudly, and Nicky wished Shane wasn’t asleep in the other bed so he could be afforded the same luxury. “Bloody hell, Nix, you do think some utter bollocks.”

“But you love me.”

“Course I do.”

“And this has certainly proved to the queen how much he needs his king, and he’s glad that the king feels the same way. But if they’re ever separated again, he might feel the need to crack someone’s skull.”

“Not if the king gets there first.” Kian said savagely. Nicky grinned.

“Do they live happily ever after?”

“I certainly hope so. Do you want me to tuck you in before I go? I think Mark’s coming back down, and he was talking about bed. Don’t think he’d appreciate me keeping him awake.”

“Sod the grumpy bugger.”

“You don’t have to spend tomorrow with him.”

“That’s true.” Nicky smirked at the thought of a sleepy, cranky Mark, and Kian stuck with him in an enclosed space. “Don’t worry, though. I’ve tucked myself in.”

“Okay. I’ll just kiss you on the forehead then, and be off.”

“Not on the lips?”

“If you’re young enough for a bedtime story, you’re too young for a kiss on the lips.” There was the sound of kissing in Nicky’s ear, and he cuddled the phone against his shoulder, kissing the mouthpiece in reply.

“I love you, Ki.” Nicky whispered, closing his eyes and smiling.

“I love you too, Nicky.”

“Good night.”

“Sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the Mark bite.”

“He better not.” Kian laughed. “Go to sleep now, and I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Okay.” Nicky yawned, snuggling into his pillow and feeling himself begin to drift. “Goodnight Ki.”

He was fast asleep in almost no time at all, dreaming of he and Kian in their own castle, never able to be parted by anything.

He had the dragon shot.


End file.
